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[ BEN Financials ]

6. Report Parameters
Documentation :|: BEN Balances Report Documentation

6.1 General Guidelines

The BEN Financials General Ledger reports use parameters as a way of specifying

1. the accounting period for which financial data should be reported, and
2. what accounts should appear on the report. Accounts are usually selected based on values in one or more of the segments in the account number (e.g., based on CNAC, or ORG or FUND); accounts can also be selected based on the Responsible ORG on the fund.

The general guidelines listed here apply to parameter usage in most of the BEN Financials General Ledger reports. In those few cases where special parameters apply to a particular report, information about parameter usage will be included in the documentation for that report.

1. In most cases, all parameters on the reports are optional. However, it is always a good idea to use one or more of the parameters to narrow down the search criteria, as this usually results in faster run times for the report.

2. With the exception of the Responsible Org (RESP ORG) parameter (see below), all of the report parameters are handled as And conditions. Only those account combinations which satisfy All of the parameters specified will be included on the report.

3. In general, a user can report on only those account combinations where the ORG in the combination is within that user's BEN Financials security profile. The security check on the ORG value is automatically applied to both the ORG and RESP ORG parameters.

4. If you want to include all of your ORGs, complete the ORG parameter with your lowest numbered ORG as the low value and your highest numbered ORG as the high value - the system will automatically return to you only the ORGs in that range that your BEN Financials security profile gives you access to.

5. If you use a parent as the value for one or more of the segment parameters, the system will automatically expand that parent into its component children and use the child values in resolving the selection criteria. To use a parent value for the ORG parameter, that parent Must be in your BEN Financials security profile. Parent values are not currently supported for the RESP ORG parameter. To specify more than one RESP ORG value, you must use a range instead of a parent. Even in those instances where parent values can be used, the report will always run faster when a range is used instead of a parent value.

6. RESP ORG: When a fund is used across multiple ORGs, the organizational unit that has been designated the Responsible ORG for the fund is authorized to see All combinations used with that fund regardless of the ORG value. Responsible ORG is a special FUND attribute that can be viewed online within the "GL COA Inquiry" Responsibility on the View Segment Attributes screen (\Navigate COA Query).

   The RESP ORG parameter allows users to specify whether or not accounts should be included or excluded from a report based on the fund's Responsible ORG attribute. The RESP ORG parameter can be used without the ORG parameter or it can be combined with the ORG parameter by use of the Connector parameter. This special parameter allows the user to specify the boolean condition for how the two parameters should be combined: the OR, And, and And NOT operators are supported.

   Special Note: in those few cases where the RESP ORG parameter is offered in conjunction with the CNAC parameter, the value specified for the CNAC parameter will constrain the account combinations returned from the RESP ORG parameter. In other words, only those account combinations within the CNAC value specified will be reported. When the RESP ORG parameter is used and the CNAC parameter is also required, always specify a broad low/high range for the CNAC parameter (e.g., 000-990).

7. The following is a brief description of the rules the system follows in interpreting the ORG and RESP ORG parameters. More detailed information on the use of these parameters is provided in Section 6.3.

   1. The Connector value is always ignored when one or both of the ORG/RESP ORG parameters is left blank.

   2. If Both parameters are left blank, the system will automatically fill both parameters with the list of ORGs from the user's security profile and use the OR condition (regardless of the Connector value specified). This will result in returning all account combinations where the ORG in the account is in the user's security profile Plus all account combinations where the RESP ORG on the fund is in the user's security profile.

   3. If one of the parameters is left blank and the other is not blank, the system will use only the non-blank parameter and ignore the Connector value. When ORG is supplied and RESP ORG is left blank, the system selects the accounts based on the ORG parameter and ignores the RESP ORG value on the fund. When RESP ORG is supplied and ORG is left blank, the system selects the accounts based on the RESP ORG value on the fund and ignores the ORG value on the account.

   4. If both of the parameters are completed, the system uses both of those parameters, along with the specified Connector value, to select accounts for the report.

8. In general, it's always a good idea to use the ORG parameter; this helps constrain the selection criteria and usually makes the report run faster. In the vast majority of cases, selection criteria that includes a value or range of values for the ORG parameter, the OR value for the Connector, and a value or range of values for the RESP ORG parameter will provide the optimum coverage for selection of accounts.

   The following table provides some general guidelines for use of the ORG and RESP ORG parameters. It is possible to achieve the same results through different combinations of the parameters, but the following are the recommended approaches to use. For additional information, see also Sections 6.3 and 6.4.

   If you want to select accounts based on....	Complete the parms this way.....
   A combination of the ORG in the account and the RESP ORG on the fund	ORG - specify a value/range of values (don't leave blank) RESP ORG - specify a value/range of values (don't leave blank)
   The RESP ORG on the fund, regardless of the ORG in the account	ORG - leave blank RESP ORG - specify a value/range of values (don't leave blank)
   The ORG in the account, regardless of the RESP ORG on the fund	ORG - specify a value/range of values (don't leave blank) RESP ORG - leave blank

   Remember: the RESP ORG for the common University funds (e.g., the General Unrestricted Fund and other funds that begin with "00") is typically a central office such as the Comptroller's Office or the Treasurer's Office. Therefore, when the RESP ORG parameter is used without the ORG parameter, the resulting report would exclude all such funds because the RESP ORG value would not be part of the user's security profile.

9. On the last page of every report two pieces of important information are provided: Report Parameters and Report Break - Resolved Parameters.

   1. Report Parameters
      The parameters used to request the report are printed on the last page as confirmation of what was requested. If the account combinations returned to you in the report are not what you expected, the report parameters list is a useful first place to start. At a minimum, you can verify the range of values you provided at the time you submitted the request.

   2. Report Break - Resolved Parameters
      The list provided here represents the list of values within the range you provided as Report Parameters that passed security verification and that exist on the database as valid combinations. When a report is submitted, ORGanization parameters that were provided are compared against your BEN Financials security profile. All ORGanizations in the range that match your profile and that exist as valid combinations will be returned to you in the report.

   This is a good second place to look if you did not get the results you expected. Compare the list of ORGanizations in this list against the parameter range you provided. If an ORGanization is missing, chances are it either does not exist in your security profile or does not exist as a valid combination.

6.2 Parameter Definitions

The BEN Financials General Ledger reports use parameters to specify the accounting period for which financial information is to be reported and as a way for the user to indicate what accounts should be included on the report. Typically, one or more of the COA segments are provided as parameters for account selection. The parameters are completed using a low and high value which allows users to specify either a single value (low and high value are the same) or a range of values. Parent values can generally be used instead of a range for most of the COA segment parameters. To use a parent value for the ORG parameter, that parent Must be in your BEN Financials security profile. Parent values cannot be used for the RESP ORG parameter.

6.3 Parameter Usage Matrix

The following table explains how the combination of ORG and RESP ORG parameters affects the selection criteria for a report. These parameters can be used separately or in combination with each other. All other parameters, such as the FUND, Program, and C-REF parameters are added to the ORG/RESP ORG parameters with an And condition. That is, once the ORG/RESP ORG parameters have been satisfied, the account must also meet any other criteria specified in the other segment parameters.

Remember:

• The RESP ORG for the common University funds (e.g., the General Unrestricted Fund and other funds that begin with "00") is typically a central office such as the Comptroller's Office or the Treasurer's Office. Therefore, when the RESP ORG parameter is used without the ORG parameter, the resulting report would exclude all such funds because the RESP ORG value would not be part of the user's security profile.

• In those few cases where the RESP ORG parameter is offered in conjunction with the CNAC parameter, the value specified for the CNAC parameter will constrain the account combinations returned from the RESP ORG parameter. In other words, only those account combinations within the CNAC value specified will be reported. When the RESP ORG parameter is used and the CNAC parameter is also required, always specify a broad low/high range for the CNAC parameter (e.g. , 000-990).

6.4 Examples

The following examples may help clarify the use of the most common report parameters.

In the majority of cases, item 1 in the table below is the Recommended approach for handling the most common selection criteria.